In her shrine there was no statue, but her presence was
represented by the eternal fire burning upon her hearth, a fire that
?neas was fabled to have brought with him from old Troy. The purifying
flames stood for the unsullied character of the goddess, which was also
betokened by the immaculate maidens who kept alive the sacred coals. As
Vesta was remembered at every meal, so also the Lares and Penates,
divinities of the fireside, were worshipped, for there was a
purification at the beginning of the repast and a libation poured upon
the table or the hearth in their honor at its close. When one went
abroad he prayed to the Penates for a safe return, and when he came
back, he hung his armor and his staff beside their images, and gave
them thanks. In every sorrow and in every joy the indefinite divinities
that went under these names were called upon for sympathy or help.
In the month of June the mothers celebrated a feast called
_Matralia_, to impress upon themselves their duties towards children;
and at another they brought to mind the good deeds of the Sabine women
in keeping their husbands and fathers from war. [Footnote: see page 26]
This was the _Matronalia_, and the epigrammatist Martial, who lived
during the first century of our era, called it the Women's Saturnalia,
on account of its permitted relaxation of manners.
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